Switch box



May 26, 1936- c. s. BARKELEW 2,041,685

SWITCH BOX Filed July 17, 1953 v/IIll/IIIIIII/III I I7? 0622 for J G 6/?err/es 5f Burke/e20.

Patented May 26, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1 Claim,

This invention has reference to enclosed electric switches such as areused in service wires on consumers premises, and the invention will bedescribed with this typical use in view but without implied limitationthereto as the invention will be understood to be applicable to manyother situations.

Such devices consist generally of a sheet metal box having a hingeddoor, and an electrical switch mounted inside the box and adapted to beoperated by means of some manual member extending through a wall of thebox, so that the switch can be operated with the switch box door closed.These boxes are adapted to be mounted on a wall 16 at a suitablelocation on the consumers premises.

In a prior type of box the manual switch operating member extendsthrough a side wall of the box, thereby precluding the possibility ofsetting the box back into a plaster or other wall. It is frequentlydesirable, however, to set the box back into the wall, and attempts haveaccordingly been made to provide suitable switch operating mechanismsthat can be operated from the front of the box. This necessitates a slotin the hinged box 5 door through which a forwardly extending switchoperating member may project, and if the door is to swing from one sideof the box, as is preferable, this door slot must be of sufficient widththat the slot edges will clear such a manual member when the door isswung open. It is, however, a requirement of the Underwriters standardsthat open slots will not be permitted. The difficulty mentioned issometimes avoided by swinging the door from the top or bottom of thebox,

in which instance the vertically extending door slot need not of coursebe of a width considerably greater than that of the switch operatingmember; but it is highly desirable that the door swing from the side ofthe box whenever possible, since a door swung from the bottom is liableto fall and hang open if not tightly closed, and a door swung from thetop must be braced in its upper position in order to work on theinterior of the box.

It is accordingly an object of my invention to provide a simple andinexpensive switch box and switch operating mechanism that is operablefrom the front of the box, so that the box may be embedded as deeply asdesired into a plaster wall, and that is provided with a door whichswings from 50 one side of the box but which has no open slot of a widthobjectionable under underwriters requirements.

The present invention will best be understood without furtherpreliminary discussion from the 55 following detailed description of apresent preferred embodiment thereof, reference for this purpose beinghad to the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the switch box with the door closed; 5

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the switch box show? ing it imbedded in a,plastered wall;

Fig. 3 is a section taken on line 33 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 4 is a front elevation of the switch box with the hinged door open;10

Fig. 5 is a vertical section taken on line 55 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a vertical section taken on line 66 of Fig. 4;

Fig. '7 is a section taken on line 'l--'l of Fig. 16 4, the switchhowever being moved to open position;

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary view showing a modified mounting for the manualswitch operating member; and 20 Fig. 9 is a section on line 9-.-.9 ofFig. 8.

In the drawing numeral Ill designates generally the switch box, whichmay be formed as usual of sheet metal, said box having hinged at onevertical edge, at as H, a front door I2. Door I2 has 2 flanges l3 thatfit over the edges of the box, as shown. A door catch may be provided bypressing out engageable projections Ma and l3a' on the box side wall andthe door flange, respectively. A porcelain switch base I4 is shownfastened by 30 screws 15 to a platform l6 mounted on the rear wall ofthe box. This switch has spring contacts I! and a switch blade 18pivoted at 19 below contacts ll so as to swing upwardly to engage saidcontacts,- and to swing downwardly to open posi- 35 tion (Figs. 6 and7). The switch base is also shown with a fuse socket 20 and with theusual electrical terminals which will not be necessary to describe.

For operation of the switch blade there is 4 fastened thereto aninsulated, hook-like member 24 having a slot 25 that extendssubstantially parallel to the direction of switch blade l8. Engaging inthis slot is a. crank member 26, opposite pivot ends of which aremounted to rotate in the two sides 21 and 28 of the box, as shown at 29and 30.

The novel means which I provide for moving the switch operating crankfrom the front of the box are embodied, in my preferred construction, asfollows. Mounted flush against the inside surface of the box wall 28, onthe side opposite door hinge II, is a sector shaped plate 32. This platehas a hole 33 which takes the outwardly projecting pivot end of thecrank shaft, and the arm portion 34 of the crank shaft comes against theinner surface of the plate 32 and is taken between a pair of lugsprojecting therefrom. To retain the crank shaft in proper positionrelative to plate 32 its corresponding end may be provided with a cotterpin 36 just outside the side of the box. Thus plate 32 is mounted forrotative movement on the axis of the journalled ends of the crank shaft,and operatively engages an arm of the crank shaft to cause said shaft torotate with it.

Plate 32 is formed with an arcuate slot which receives a stud 4| carriedby the side of the box, this slot and stud limiting rotative movement ofthe plate. The outer edge 32a of plate 32 is formed on an are about itsmounting on the pivoted crank shaft end as a center, and the radius ofsaid are is such that the arcuate edge of the plate projects somewhatforwardly of the front surface of the box, as shown. At substantiallythe center of this curved edge 320. the plate is provided with aprojecting finger piece 42 by which the switch is operated.

It will be obvious that movement of switch operating member 32 betweenthe upper and lower positions shown respectively in Figs. 6 and 7,operates the crank to switch blade l8 between closed and open positions.

The front door I2 of the box is provided at its swinging edge with avertical slot 45, of just suflicient width to clear operating member 32as the door is swung closed (see Fig. 3). The inner edge a of the doorslot approaches plate 32 comparatively closely when the door is inclosed y position, clearance being allowed only sufiicient formanufacturing tolerances. It will be seen that when the door is inclosed position, the slot overlaps or extends outwardly beyond the sidewall of the box (Fig. 1), the door flange [3 at the edge of the boxbeing spaced from the box side wall. The length of door slot 45 is justsuflicient to take the arcuate plate 32. It will be obvious that by thisconstruction the switch operating member or plate 32 substantially fillsthat portion of the door slot that opens into the interior of the box inall positions of plate 32, the small clearance tolerance allowed betweensaid plate and the inner edge of the slot not being suflicient to beobjectionable under underwriters standards.

The switch box as now described is capable of being set well back into awall, and in Fig. 2 is shown set back into a plaster wall 48. Nodifiiculty arises if the projecting crank shaft ends 29 and 3|] shouldhappen to be imbedded in the plaster wall, as they easily freethemselves when the switch is operated.

As a means for locking the switch in open position, the plate 32 isprovided with a hole 49 (see Figs. 2 and 5), in which a padlock mayengage, said hole being so located that it is outside the box only whenthe switch is in open position. Thus it will be understood that when theswitch is padlocked the member 32 cannot be thrown to the positions ofFigs. 5 and 6 to close the switch.

In Figs. 8 and 9 I have illustrated a variational form of switchoperating member. The arcuate switch operating member is here designatedat 3212, and its finger piece at 42a. This member 321) works adjacentthe side wall 28a of the box, and the switch box door closes over it, inthe same manner as does the plate 32 of the other form, but the mountingof plate 32a and its connection with the crank shaft 26 are modified.Plate 321 is fastened to a disk 60 that works in a round opening El inthe box side wall 28a. Wall 28a has diametrically opposed lugs 63extending inwardly in opening 6|, and disk 60 is cut away on its twoopposite sides as at 64 to provide a limited working space for lugs 63as the disk rotates. On the outside of disk 60 is a disk 65, of adiameter just larger than opening 6|, and plate 32b, disk 60 and diskare fastened together as by rivets 61. The inner disk is made ofslightly thicker material than is the wall of the box to give freerotation of the assembly-for instance, the box may be of 16 gaugematerial and the disk of 18 gauge material. It will be readilyunderstood how the assembly rotates in the side wall of the box, and howengagement of the ends of the cut out portions 64 of disk 60 limitsrotation of the assembly to the angle desired. The arm 68 of crank shaft26 is in this case taken between lugs 69 of plate 32b and is fastenedtherein as by means of a cotter pin 10.

It will now be understood that I have provided a simple, inexpensiveswitch box which is operable from the front, so that the box may be setback into a wall, and which has a door arranged to swing from onevertical side of the box and provided along its swinging edge with anovelly arranged door slot adapted to take the forwardly projectingswitch operating member which is pivoted adjacent the side of the boxopposite the side at which the door is hinged, that portion of the doorslot which opens into the box interior being substantially filled by theswitch operating member, and the remainder of the slot overlapping theside of the box.

I claim:

A switch comprising a box having parallel side walls, a movable switchoperating member within the box adjacent the inside siu'face of one ofsaid walls, said member projecting forwardly of the front plane of thebox, and a door hinged to the opposite side wall of the box, said doorhaving a slot in its free edge of a width sufiicient to pass the switchoperating member as the door is swung closed, the inner edge of saidslot being so disposed as to approach comparatively closely to theinside surface of the switch operating member when the door is closed,and the excess width of the slot on the opposite side of the switchoperating member overlapping the side Wall of the box when the door isclosed.

CHARLES S. BARKELEW.

